MangiaMore: jacked-up BANANA bread

JAR 4.5.13

So I had two bananas on their way out, and I thought perfect! I’ll make banana bread (but remember making banana cake, with the oldies but goodies). Unfortunately, perusing recipes online and in some of the deteriorating cook books I have at home, most required three or four of those over ripe gems. I felt stuck and lost. I really wanted to make that darn banana bread before those two bananas were far beyond hope. I was gifted another banana, which was almost just about right for my taste to eat (yellow but a little spotty and soft). That banana was too new and almost too appetizing, but the thought of banana bread was far more enticing than a simple fruit snack. So I threw around my new addition, showed it a little abuse, and forced it to bruise and ripen faster than what’s natural. And then it was ready, and so was I, to try out smitten kitchen’s passed around jacked-up banana bread recipe. Check it out here.

RER 4.4.13

First of all, this is the most super easy recipe ever (well, maybe not ever, but it’s close). All it really involves is your ingredients, a bowl, and a wooden spoon (you know besides the oven and loaf pan). I repeat, a wooden spoon, nope, no mixer necessary, which to me means less mess and always a victory.

RER 4.4.13

Second of all, it is a little adventurous. There is the optional bourbon addition, along with vanilla, which I don’t really recall putting in my banana bread in past endeavors. But there are also spices like cloves, and nutmeg and cinnamon, creating a spicier warmth to combat the sweetness of the brown sugar and brown bananas. The little kick wakes up the loaf and your mouth.

RER 4.4.13

Third, it is way beyond delicious.

RER 4.4.13

Also, there are so many ways to customize it to your own tastes and whims, like adding in nuts (which I don’t like but plenty people do…walnuts, pecans), or chocolate chips for a sweeter tooth or chocoholic. I can even imagine throwing coconut in there for more texture and chew, creating something a touch tropical and different. Or even craisins for a rounder breakfast bread. Toast it with a little butter or cream cheese when it dries out (if it lasts that long), or slather it with nutella or extra frosting from your coconut cake (oh wait, that might just be me…). Any way you dream it, this moist banana loaf is delicious.

RER

4.8.13

JAR 4.5.13